RADIATION MONITORING DEVICES, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: The goal of this program is to develop a process for producing ceramic materials with prop

Description

The goal of this program is to develop a process for producing ceramic materials with properties approaching or, possibly in some aspects, exceeding those of single crystals. Ceramic processing provides important benefits including lower cost, higher yield, relaxed constraints on size and shape, and the possibility of producing materials that are difficult or impossible to grow as single crystals. The program will investigate control of particle size using mechanical separation and chemical approaches to limit nucleation, increase particle size and eliminate small particles. Orientation along three axes will be achieved by a combination of two or more fundamentally different orientation techniques. BiTiO3 will be the model material. Since the material is available as platelets, one axis can be aligned using mechanical processes. We will investigate the use of magnetic orientation and controlling the crystallographic phase at different temperatures to align the other axes. Phase I will result in a demonstration of the ability to enhance the orientation in three axes. The Phase I Option will further investigate and optimize the process, and Phase II will continue the research and development with the goal of producing ceramic material with a high degree of orientation of all three axes.